This invention relates generally to the field of beach towels and beach blankets and more particularly such blanket and towels used on sandy beaches.
Sandy beaches pose a particularly difficult environment for maintaining a comfortable location for sitting or laying on the beach after swimming or other activities. This is so because the towels or blankets are periodically subjected to wetting with water from bathing and the accumulation of sand, either blown or tracked on to the blanket or towel.
Once sand is carried on to the conventional beach towel or blanket, it remains oin the top surface causing discomfort. This sand also adheres to the skin and bathing suits of persons sitting or laying down on the portion of the blanket or towel covered by this surface sand.
While the quantity of the surface sand that accumulates on these blankets and towels is not particularly large, because of its location, it causes a disproportionate amount of discomfort to the bathers. Removal of this sand requires the blanket to be periodically lifted from the sand and shaken clean. Typically, when this shaking out process takes place, especially on a crowded beach, sand is scattered and carried onto other blankets and other bathers in the vicinity. The amount of sand that is dislodged in the shaking process is often substantially more than that accumulated on the top of the blanket or towel, because the towels or blankets are wet and sand has adhered to the underside. This extra sand is also shaken loose and scattered in the wind when the blanket is shaken.
This problem of sand accumulation presents bathers with the unhappy choice of tolerating the sandy blanket or the risk of exposing neighboring bathers to flying sand from the blanket cleaning process.
Terrycloth made preferably of cotton is a widely used material for such blankets and towels, and while it provides advantages such as comfort and moisture absorption, it has the tendency to retain sand particles, especially if the towel or blanket is moist. Due to this tendency to hold sand, terrycloth requires that a vigorous effort be made to clean the towel or blanket, and thereby causing sand to be scattered fairly widely during the cleaning process resulting in an increased possibility that sand will be thrown on to adjacent blankets and/or bathers.
The present art embodied in terrycloth blankets and towels, has certain obviously useful and beneficial features, but does not fully meet the needs of bathers.